


Performance Problems

by Superbeans



Series: Kingdom Hearts Minifics [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts, Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Genre: Gen, dark themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-25 09:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7527754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superbeans/pseuds/Superbeans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After some mysterious new software sends the Hollow Bastion's computer on the fritz, Sora is sent inside, to check things out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The metallic ringing clattered and crashed, resulting in a soft crescendo, 'vwoop, vwoop, VWOOP!'

And two yellow eyes fluttered open. Seemingly confused, these two eyes glanced at the emptiness surrounding it. Nothing in every direction. Just pure darkness...

Perplexed, the little yellow eyes wrenched forwards a body, consisting simply of an expressionless face, an abdomen, and four jittery limbs, all completely black.

And as it waddled forwards on its clumsy limbs, the little creature couldn't help but wonder what it had done, to be in control of such a bleak existence.

Did it have friends here?

Family?

A home?

A purpose?

Anything that wasn't just... blackness?

The creature blinked.

After all, this was a rather depressing situation it had inadvertently stumbled into. Did it even _exist_?

That was a difficult question for it to answer. After all, there didn't seem to be anything else here to-

Oh wait, that looked like light. Light meant something else.

Could it be a friend?

With some actual vigour in its movement, the little creature staggered towards the lights. At the very least, they provided answers. The lights were many, and that meant many friends, it surmised.

The lights were approaching at a much faster pace than the creature had anticipated. Was this buzzing feeling excitement? Exhilaration at the thought of making a friend? Hadthese new friends noticed it? The creature simply didn't know.

The lights swooped overhead, confusing the creature once again. Could the friends fly?

Could _it_ fly? It wasn't so sure.

Were these a different type of friend? Perhaps.

But the creature's thoughts were shattered when its new friends roared.

The creature whimpered.

* * *

 

"Nngh..." Sora grunted, rubbing his bleary eyes and not expecting the bright lights to come flooding into them.

"About time you woke up." Came a voice. Sora forced his eyes to focus on the direction of the voice, and spied an amused looking Leon, glancing back at him from his computer chair.

"Leon...?" Sora yawned, his head full of clouds it seemed. "Where're... Donald and Goofy?"

"This might surprise you Sora, but they have other things in their lives," Leon smirked. "What, did you expect them to just be standing-"

"Sora!" A voice hollered from the doorway. "You're awake?!"

Goofy leant outside of the doorway, and yelled. "Donald! He's awake!"

"He's awake?!" Donald's trademark quack hissed back, and next thing Sora knew, he was surrounded by his two best friends once again.

"That was some nap ya took there, Sora!" Goofy looked both overjoyed and concerned at the same time. "We were bored stiff!"

"I stand corrected..." Leon buried his face into one palm. "Anyway. Sora, get over here. There's something I want you to see."

"Huh...?" A confused Sora muttered, stumbling from amidst the confines of the bed and over towards Leon, Donald and Goofy in tow. "What's the problem?" He yawned again, as he stretched his limbs out.

"Well, it's kinda weird," Leon began explaining. "You see, Yuffie found this 'software' that was apparently able to speed up the computer," he pointed to a program on the desktop, named 'Turbo.exe'. "But I'm not so sure it's legit. I mean, for one, Yuffie 'found' it, and secondly, the computer hasn't been acting right since I installed it. Been acting really screwy, y'know?"

"Okay...?" Sora nodded, under the pretence that he understood, in spite of being lost past 'software'."

"And yeah, I can't do anything externally, so I was wonderin' if you could take a look at it?"

"Umm... I don't know much about computers..." Sora was hesitant to admit. "I dunno if I can help you there, Le-"

"He means get in the computer, ya big Palookah!" Donald began shoving him towards the transporter. "Like, we, did, with, _Tron_!"

"Hunh? Would that even work?" Sora raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"In theory, yes," Leon answered simply. "But I'd act fast, in any case. This computer's getting harder and harder to control, and it's only so long before it'll start eating our important files and corrupting stuff."

"We won' letcha down, Leon!" Goofy announced despite himself, and Sora rolled his eyes, having had his mind made up for him.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

The computer began whirring overtime as Sora's body was integrated into the machine, Donald and Goofy to follow. What began as reality, and a bright flash of light, led to an entirely new world...

"Hunh?" The young man grunted. "Why am I so... blocky?"

Sora studied himself. Smaller details, like the gaps between his fingers, had been more or less left out, while in general he had a much more square appearance.

"It looks like we're in some kinda game, eh Sora?" Goofy's hand ghosted through his chin. "But maybe an old game, from looooong ago."

"Hmm, maybe," Sora noticed just how tinny his voice had become. "But what's a game doing inside the computer?"

"Musta been that thing Yuffie found!" Donald stated the obvious. His original feathery textures had also been replaced with just rhomboid shapes, and he was little more than a mass of blue and white now.

"W-well, either way, let's see if we can get to the bottom of this so we can get o-o-o-o-o-o-oooout."

Sora froze mid-sentence. In an act that terrified both of his companions, his features were taken over by mottled green blobs, and his voice was hijacked by something more recognisable as engine noise than human speech.

"...What was _that_?!" Donald squawked, stuttering around in circles as his body seemed unable to keep up with his intended movements.

"I... I don't kn-know," Sora flinched, a nauseating lurch melting through him. "Hey, there's a building over there. Let's go see if we can get some hel-help."

And with slow, jerky movements, the trio made their way across piles of what looked like bricks, towards the building in the distance.

"Hey, there's a guy!" Goofy announced, pointing to a small figure in blue at the bottom of the building. He turned to Sora on his left, "reckon we should go talk Te him, Sor-"

"huh?"

"M-maybe he can hELP us." Sora spoke from Goofy's right, feeling incredibly out of control of his own body, as his legs simply jutted out in front of him with no discernible timing or direction.

"Hellooooo?!" Donald cut to the chase, signalling at the character in blue.

"Huh?!" The blue-clad man seemed just as surprised as any of them. "Well, howdy strangers! Name's Fix-it Felix Jr.! What can I do ya for?"

"Well err, Mr Fix-it," Sora extended a jerky hand towards the man in blue. "We were wondering if you could-"

"Please, call me Felix." He didn't take the hand, instead removing his cap and bowing. "Say, you're plenty tall for a plant, aren'cha?" 

"Pl-plant?!" Sora gasped, somehow bursting two feet backwards and bumping into Donald. The duck flailed at him, but received no attention.

"Oop! Hold that thought, houseplant! We got a quarter!" Fix-it Felix announced, now wielding a golden hammer. "Might wanna step back a bit, friends. This could get messy."

"Messy?" Sora blanked him. "What could get-"

However, a glance skywards answered his question.

"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!"

Sora's eye twitched. For a beast of a man, at least nine feet tall, was climbing the building in front of them, and smashing chunks out of it!

"WHOA!" Sora gasped, and rolled out of the way of a falling slab of brick. He sprung back into a fighting stance, keyblade at the ready.

"Y'see? Be careful now, alright friends?" Felix advised. "You stay safe, and I'm gonna go to work n-"

It all fell on deaf ears. Deftly evading and repelling the falling debris despite his laggy stature, Sora was too busy to listen. 

"Errm, Sora...?" Goofy made an attempt to get through.

"Not now, Goof." Sora huffed, slashing away with his keyblade. "Busy!"

Sora whacked at a lump of chimney with his keyblade as if it were a baseball, and sent it careering through the air.

"Alright, that should about do it!" Felix wiped his brow, up on the third floor. He tapped the remains of the wall with his golden hammer, and watched as it all sprang magically back into place. "Okay, level complete. Great work, gaa-aaaagh!"

Just as he'd turned around to survey the rest of the building, the ball of debris Sora whacked hit him square in the face!

Felix fell limp, and crashed three floors to the floor with a heavy thud. Ominous music rattled across the vicinity, and Felix remained unmoving across the ground.

Sora gasped. "...oh no..."

"Is he...?" Donald whispered to Goofy, who only gave a solemn nod in return.

"Felix!" 

The nine foot tall giant leapt from the roof of the building, creating a small trench in the ground with his impact.

"Felix!!!" The giant gasped, scooping up Felix's lifeless body with a single enormous hand. "You okay buddy?!"

Felix said nothing. But luckily for all concerned parties, a resounding 'voop, voo-voo-voop!' bounced through the area, and Felix suddenly sprang awake again!

"Whah?!" Felix gasped, shaking his head. "Ralph?! What's wrong, why'd you-"

"Those little space invaders attacked you!" The giant - known as Ralph, apparently - pointed an accusing finger at Sora.

"Ohh no, Ralph, it was an accident, I'm sure..." Felix muttered, still groggy. "Ya see what I meant about keepin' a safe distance, little houseplant?"

"O-okay!" Sora grinned awkwardly, backing away slowly.

"Sorraaa... I think we should run." Goofy gulped.

"Yeah, it's about time you kept a LOTTA distance!" Ralph the giant hollered. He ever-so-gently placed Felix back down on the ground, and roared. "STAY OUTTA MY GAME!"

And next thing Sora knew, the nine foot tall monolith was charging at them!

"RUN!" Donald cried, knocking into Sora and Goofy as he made his escape. The three tumbled off of the platform, and onto a little monorail-like contraption, which began to move at a desperately slow pace upon their falling into it.

"RAGH!" Ralph roared, crashing into the monorail behind them. "You're NOT getting away that easy!"

"Raaalph!!" Felix cried in the background as the monorail picked up speed, taking Sora, Donald and Goofy away from the platform. And isolating them with a murderous giant.

"Eheh..." Sora gulped, he and Donald gathering behind Goofy. ""L-look, let's just cool down, and-"

"No!" Ralph bellowed, wielding his humongous fists. Goofy raised his shield slowly, as their only form of defence against the monster. However, that defence didn't last long, with Ralph's fist smashing into it and turning it cleanly inside out.

"Ahaw..." Goofy chuckled nervously, and span the shield around.

"Look, please! Just let us expl-"

"I ain't lettin' you nothin'!" Ralph raged, pummelling Goofy's shield once again. "You stay away from Felix, an' away from my g-whoooaaa!"

The monorail stopped suddenly, tipping all four characters off of it and into an enormous white room. Sora was first to his feet, and had no time to acknowledge the cornucopia of colourful characters inhabiting the giant, train station-esque room.

"Whah?!" Sora gasped, swerving to avoid an enormous fist. "C-c'mon, give us a chance!"

"Bad guys like you don't get chances!" Ralph growled, tearing what looked like a bench from its hinges and bodily throwing it at the trio. It misses horribly, and clattered across the floor, narrowly missing other characters as well with accompanying screams.

"People could get hurt!" Sora huffed back, his aching legs screaming for a rest. But another thrown object - this one could've been a mailbox? - told him that Ralph was not about to listen.

A pair of curt nods had him set up.

"Donald!" He cried, and the duck launched a Fira spell at Ralph, hitting him in the face. The giant roared with pain, but pain wasn't the intent.

"Goofy!" Sora yelled, and Goofy slowed for just long enough. Sora's foot connected with his shield, and the young man kicked off of it into the air. Keyblade in hands, he locked himself around the giant's shoulders.

"GRAH!" Ralph roared, flailing to detatch the teenager. "Get off me, ya little Goomba!"

"Not until you _calm, down!_ " Sora grunted, tightening his grip on the keyblade.

"Urgh...!" Ralph grunted, stumbling all over the place as he attempted to dislodge Sora from around his neck. Things were getting knocked over. Cats were shrieking. Other characters were going haywire. And neither of them were giving up.

The pair staggered right past an electric blue man who had shocked in front of them both, and ambled through another dark tunnel.

Sora continued tightening his keyblade, cutting Ralph's air supply and finally bringing the giant to his knees. Once he was sure Ralph had 'calmed down', he he stumbled back in front of the giant, and knelt down.

"I just wanna talk. Alright?"

Slowly, a heaving Ralph wrenched himself onto his back, and gulped down several litres of fresh air.

But another surprise was in for the pair tonight, as a cacophony of metallic clicking sounded from behind Sora:

"Start talkin'!"


	3. Chapter 3

Two characters gulped simultaneously, and slowly turned to face their new 'acquaintance'.

And her blaster.

"Quite a show you four put on," the obvious leader of the group smirked. Shifting blonde hair from her sharp gaze, she relaxed her rifle and said, "what is this, a travelling flea circus?"

"I, um..." Sora stammered. "We-we're sorry, okay? This is all just a big misun-"

 _"We're_ sorry?" Ralph's bellow drowned Sora's instantly. "I'd like to know what _I've_ done wrong, ya little-"

"Can it, giant," the blonde woman threatened. "Porcupine over there was at least tryin' to save your hiney. If you know what's good for you you'll let him squeak."

Her rifle wasn't even pointing at them any more. She was this intimidating by just herself?

"Porcu...pine?" Sora muttered to himself. "a-anyway! We've all come here from fa-a-a-a-ar aw-w-way!"

His voice did that thing again.

"I'll say," the woman tightened her grip on her rifle. "And then what, you just fell into my game?"

"Pretty much?" Sora glitched out a shrug. "Y-y'see, we started off in a dif-f-ferent game, and there was this little blue guy called Fix-it Felix."

"I've heard the name," the woman pursed her lips.

"A-and we accidentally ended up hurting him..." Sora's hand ghosted through his neck area.

"You damn near killed him," Ralph growled, only to get struck in the face with what looked like a shoe?

"I said CAN IT, Bigfoot!" The blonde growled right back at him. "Okay, porcupine. Go."

"Uh-uhmm... Sora please, if you would?" He winced.

" _Sergeant_ Calhoun." The blonde's face didn't even marr.

"...r-right. Thanks," Sora gulped again. "Anyway, we're on the lookout for some creatures. They're like little black shadowy dark things with bright yellow eyes."

Calhoun' eyes widened. Just a little.

"Do they... sound familiar?"

"Matter of fact, yes," Calhoun offered a strict deadpan. "But you see kid, now we got a problem."

Barely even aware, Sora took a tiny step backwards.

"That creature you described," Calhoun began pacing. "Sounds an awful lot like what I know as a _Cy-bug_. Now, far as I know, Cy-bugs exist _only_ in this game."

Calhoun was inching closer, yet Sora did not dare retreat.

"I, don't, like Cy-Bugs." Calhoun' voice was dropping with every step she took. "Don't like them, don't like anything to do with 'em. And now you're tellin' me you've been in contact with them? Outside of this game?!"

"Umm..." Sora grimaced, his forehead dripping with fear. "Y-yes?"

Calhoun huffed. "Well that just ain't a smart answer."

"W-would it be a smarter answer if I said I knew how to get rid of them?!" Sora flinched, and withdrew into himself.

"That ain't news to me, kid. I know how to deal with them too," Calhoun cocked her rifle. "Now, unless you can offer me some  _real_ information, I'm just gonna have to-"

"Duck!"

Goofy charged out of nowhere, and threw his shield skywards as something dark crashed into it. Calhoun recoiled instinctively, and aimed skywards. "What the hell?!"

"Th-there was a flyin' thing headin' for ya!" Goofy retrieved his already battered shield. "M-maybe one-a them Cy-B-"

"Nope." Calhoun shot him down. "Don't even try and tell me a Cy-Bug got that close to me without me knowin'. I've been trackin' them for years!"

"Th-then what's that?!" Donald squawked, and pointed behind her.

"Pff. Nice try, duck." Calhoun snorted derisively. "But I ain't gonna fall for that-"

"No, really!" Sora interrupted, and even Ralph was pointing in the same direction. Calhoun narrowed her eyes. Could all of these game invading scum sacks be lying? All of them?

She sighed, and groaned, then sighed again, and turned to see what they were all pointing at.

Only to meet face-to-face with it.

"...well they have been getting harder to track lately." She didn't even flinch. "Alright civilians, get behind me! We'll finish this little conversation later!"

Calhoun emptied a spray of bullets from her blaster, and downed three of the 'cy-bugs in quick succession. With roars of pain, the giant, beetle-like creatures would collapse to the ground one by one, and then explode into puddles of foul smelling goop.

"D'you... think we should help?" Sora whispered to his two companions, as Calhoun continued to single-handedly fight off the wave after wave of cy-bugs. 

"That'd be a negatory, civilian." Calhoun answered for them, literally punching one of the cy-bugs in an attempt to keep it away.

"But it's my job, m-ma'am!" Sora's arm flailed into a saluting position. "A-as a keyblade wielded, I'm sup-supposed to-"

"Keyblade?" Calhoun frowned. "What kinda dumb name is that for a weapon?"

"I-I dunno, I didn't name it!" Sora stammered. "But anyway, can you at least let us help you?!"

"Nuh-uh!" Calhoun froze him with a glare. "Far as I'm concerned kid, you'll only be a distraction. And there's somethin' up with the bugs today, to bring them here in these numbers. Why, they're almost a challenge. So you just stay, the fu-huh?"

Calhoun narrowed her eyes. What was with these things today? Normally they'd just charge relentlessly, but today they're not even meeting her gaze. It's almost like they didn't-

"Come here, kid." Calhoun literally grabbed Sora by the head and dragged him in front of her. Wherever the porcupine was, it seemed, the cry-bugs followed. And Calhoun could feel her veins percolating now.

"You wanna explain this, kid?" Calhoun threw Sora to the floor. "You're drawing in these cy-bugs like you're a freakin' magnet! Something I don't understand?!"

"Did I mention that I'm... technically one of them?" Sora withdrew into himself, and grimaced.

"Technically..." Sora could see the steam rising. "Oh, this just gets better and better."

A palm thrust to the face of one cy-bug had it and its buddies halted for a moment, and Sora was once again in the firing line. "Alright, you've got one chance here. You were already suspicious enough to start with, and now you're saying you're 'technically' one of these freaks? Gimme an excuse."

"H-hey now, easy..." Sora threw his hands up in submission. "That's all a really long story, and I can't-"

Calhoun cleared her throat.

"I promise I'll explain later, okay?!" Sora gulped. "Til then, just let us help you get rid of these things!"

"There's a never ending supply," Calhoun huffed.

"Alright, well this... thing of them then?" There was a dim hope in the boy's eyes.

"Hey! Stop arguin' with the scary lady, kid!" Ralph roared next to him, only to be silenced by an accusing finger from Calhoun.

"Look, I'm like a magnet for these things, as you've noticed," Sora gestured to the endless horde on his left. "Trust me, you want my help!"

"Or I just kill you, and they stop following?" Calhoun was unimpressed.

"Or, you could use me as bait?!" Sora squeaked, unable to hide the panic in his voice. But before the gravity of what he'd just said could sink in...

"Bait, huh? This just got interesting."

* * *

 

"So, what is all of this again?"

"What part don't you understand?"

"...all of it?"

"Ungh..." Calhoun groaned. "He usually this brain dead?"

"Urmm..." Goofy was hesitant. Donald wasn't though,

"Yup!"

"I thought so," Calhoun's fears were confirmed. "Alright, one more time. You can draw in cy-bugs, right?"

"Yeah...?" Sora's answer was slow.

"And I still can't trust you, so you gotta prove that you're useful to me, okay?"

"I... guess so?" 

"Good so far? Good. Like I said before, I've set up this mini game so we can test what you've said. If all goes well, you show that I can rely on you, and we kill a buttload of cy-bugs. If all goes bad, well..."

"I like the sound of it all going well!" Sora called back obliviously.

"In theory, so do I!" Calhoun cocked her blaster. "Now, let's do this. Any intelligent questions before we start?"

"Umm..." Sora was immediately thrown. "So this mini-game is like a game inside of a game?"

Calhoun nodded sternly.

"Does it feel weird, to know you're being controlled by someone else?"

The walls of the game blooped around him. Maybe self awareness wasn't a good idea in this world...

"You get used to it," Calhoun dadpanned. "Now are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!" Sora's arms fell to his sides in defeat.

"Good! Cause you don't have a choice!" Calhoun actually grinned. "Okay, start her up!"

Floodlights splashed into life around Sora, followed by a really dated 'wuwuwoop!' and what looked like a scoreboard;

'PLAYER 1

CALHOUN

00000'

'PLAYER 2

PORCPIN

00000'

"Porcpin?" Sora frowned at the screen.

"Porcupine wouldn't fit," Calhoun's gaze was static.

"Why didn't you just use my actually name, Sora?" 

The request was fair enough, wasn't it?

"Didn't remember it," Calhoun shrugged, "what am I, Rain Man?"

"What I wanna know is, why's HE get to be player two?!" Ralph stamped out his disapproval.

"How long have you got?" Calhoun gave him a dark look. Ralph simply returned a sullen one,

"I wanted a go..."

"Well maybe you'll get your chance once I cream Porcu...Sora," Calhoun remained unmoving. 

And with little warning, the cliched 'ding ding!' of a bell echoed through the area, followed by the cheesiest 8-bit jingle Sora had ever suffered through. Entirely too sunny and jovial, it did absolutely nothing for the situation, especially when the cy-bugs swarmed his hill. Charging only as fast as their tiny legs would carry them, it wasn't long before they were climbing to his position.

Sora gulped, and swung his keyblade. A moment's thought had him launch himself into the air, readying a quick aerial attack on the first cy-bug that had approached. However, before his blads battered the beastie, a barrange of bullets cracked the creature's carapace instead, and Sora's day was instantly soured as cy-bug exploded in his face, covering him in a vicious green something or other.

"Nice try, Sora!" Calhoun whistled.

"Heyy, no fair! You get long range!" Sora complained.

"Life ain't fair, kiddo!" Calhoun lined up her next shot. "I mean, I knew you were green, but come on..."

Sora wiped green from his eyes. "Dammit..."

Three more bullets punctured another cy-bug, which lurched to the ground and exploded. All over Sora again.

He could hear Calhoun laughing to herself in the background as the cy-bugs gained in numbers around him. At least with this many, he'd be able to hit a few.

 

A quick strike knocked one cy-bug onto its back, where it could only flail around for a moment. Sora's Keyblade was quickly impaled into the creature's vulnerable underbelly, and it exploded into yet more goop as Sora finally got his first point.

But Calhoun already had five...

"Gotta do better, kid!" She cackled, and a bullet seethed past Sora's head and into a cy-bug, causing it to roar in pain.

Sora slopped more goo from his face, and launched his keyblade into another cy-bug, which also exploded on him.

There had to be a better way, right? To kill these things without getting covered in goo, and to at least keep up with Calhoun?

Sora mindlessly stabbed his Keyblade at a cy-bug, only to find razor sharp teeth threatening at his hand!

"Gah?!" He panicked, and suddenly his Keyblade was lost inside of the cy-bug...

Uh oh.

"Careful, Sora!" Calhoun warned. "These scum suckers become what they eat!"

Even as she spoke, the cy-bug began to morph, and take on a much more metallic hue. Longer and skinnier, but still with its giant teeth and billion legs, the cy-bug swung its increased length at Sora, who barely managed to sweve out of the way!

"Yaaaaaaghh!" The boy cried, his legs carrying him as quickly as he could manage, all while the cy-bug swung indiscriminately in his general direction, scything through other cy-bugs on its way past.

But there was an upside; Sora was still scoring points.

"Oh, ya slimy, cheatin'," Calhoun's eyes flared. "Hey, wise guy!"

 

Two bullets penetrated the Keyblade-cy-bug, forcing it to an unconscious halt. "Do your dirty work yourself!"

"...thanks," Sora muttered. Reaching his hand out, he re-summoned his Keyblade, which burst from its host and spurted more green stuff everywhere. "Ugh..."

The cy-bug eating his Keyblade had helped his score, but Calhoun was still comfortably ahead but fourteen points to eight. And the bugs were starting to thin out.

"How am I gonna catch up?!" His brains were in overdrive, desperate for a solution. He couldn't play dirty, that was for sure, while Calhoun had both a speed and range advantage over him. That, and his body wasn't exactly behaving ever since entering the compu-

"Wha-what?! WHOA!" Sora disappeared in a blur of green and purple blocks, only to reappear a few feet away on top of a cy-bug!

"What the...?" He shook his head, thoroughly confused.

"Quit clownin' around, kid!" Calhoun hollered at him. "You tryna get killed?!"

"N-no?!" Sora stammered out, still green and blocky. He cy-bug beneath him clicked in bemusement at the sudden weight on its back, when the green blocks overtook its body too!

Both disappeared in a flash of blobs, and then once again reappeared atop a huge group of cu-bugs. The green blobs were transferred from the first to the rest, and then they all just exploded randomly!

And of course, Sora got covered in it.

"Bl-ugh..." the young man wretched, his stomach adamant to eject itself from his body. He shook his head like a dog, and saw for just long enough through the dripping green goop;

he was ahead!

Sure, it was only two points, nineteen to Calhoun's seventeen, but it was a lead! He wasn't in danger!

And then that lead evaporated instantly, as Calhoun took out two at once with a spray of bullets. "Cheap move, kid! Whatever you just did, I don't like it!"

"Why, 'cause it worked?" Sora actually found himself taunting.

"No, dammit! It's suspicious as a hell!" Calhoun didn't relent. "And I'd cut out the lip, if I were you! You're an easy target green!"

"Fine, fine..." Sora groaned, shaking more goop from his everything. Whatever that teleporting thing was, he didn't even know if he could do it again anyway. Even if he wanted to.

But all this goop everywhere was making it so difficult to move, and the entire floor was covered in it...

Wait.

Sora cleaned off his Keyblade the best he could. He launched himself into the air...

"Fire!"

Sora's Keyblade ignited, and he shot a fireball at the floor. Soon the goo on the floor was a vibrant blaze as well, and the dozens of cy-bugs inside of it were only fuelling it!

Screeches of pain were escaping the flames, followed by timely bursts, spilling more green goo everywhere which quickly ignited, spreading the fire farther!

Calhoun relaxed her blaster, and couldn't help but chuckle with mirth as a slime-covered Sora slipped down the hill, away from the now towering inferno. He scoreboard continued to tick over, complete with an entirely satisfying 'ding!' for each and every kill Sora claimed.

"...not bad, green." Calhoun's arms were folded. "Looks like you could be useful after all. Hear that boys?!"

Another cacophony of clicks echoed from behind their little group, and Sora only just noticed,

"h-how long have they been there?!"

"Since the start."

"...oh."

The blaze atop the hill finally started to die down, and the final scores were available for all to see;

 

'PLAYER 1

CALHOUN

00047'

'PLAYER 2

PORCPIN

00063'

'PORCPIN WINNER!'

 

"Alrighty, no time for gloating," Calhoun holstered her blaster. "Time to start making use of you, kid."

"Y-yes ma'am!" Sora found himself saluting it of sheer reflex, and four of the five characters followed Calhoun's lead.

"Alright, yeah!" Ralph cheered, "who wants to take on big Ralph?!"

"...anyone?"

"aw, c'monnnn...!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured there was no better excuse for a mini game than a game based level. :D
> 
> With this chapter, I've got some foreshadowing, and hopefully a good Calhoun representation. She's one of my favourite Disney characters, so yeah.
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment or whatever if you've got some time spare. Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

“Right!”

There was a loud crack as a foot crashed into the door, all but knocking it from its hinges. Calhoun stomped through, with Sora, Donald, Goofy and Ralph following cautiously behind her.

“Why… din’cha just open the door?” Goofy frowned.

“No time for that,” Calhoun shouldered her rifle. “Right pansies, siddown, we’ve got important things to discuss.”

 Without a word, the four companions sat around a large central table. Ralph made the wise decision and chose the floor. It was a... depressing room, to say the least. Walls, ceiling, floors... all black. Black and papers, lots of papers, stuck to surfaces like a giant 3D notice board.

But before Sora could connect the dots, Calhoun had begun explaining,

"In the past few days, these scum suckers have broken past the boundaries of our game, and invaded at least four others, including Street Fighter and Duck Shoot. And this is information that does not leave this room, ladies. Am I clear?"

"...y-yeah," Sora gulped up at her, while everyone else just nodded.

"Now I've got the boys doing sweeps of the games in question," Calhoun continued with her brief, "in their spare time, I might add. Because on top of keeping this place secure, we have to report for Coin Duty all the damn time! So understandably we're all very tired!"

"What's Coin Duty?" Sora hissed to Ralph on his left. The giant simply gave him a sour look.

"You don't even know that?" His face fell. "...coin duty is where-"

"Am I missin' something, Wreck-it?" 

Ralph snapped to attention, only to find an irate looking Calhoun staring him 'down', with folded arms and thin lips.

"Wanna continue the brief for me?" She asked, her voice dangerously silky. "C'mon c'mon, take my spot here, you can tell us all about your plan."

"I uh, I don't... don't have a plan, ma'am." Ralph resisted her attempts to drag him across the ground.

"Oh, you don't?" Calhoun looked horrified. "Well that's a damn crying shame. Now maybe you should all listen to the one person here, who DOES have a plan! Means you too, duck!"

Donald stopped sniggering instantly.

"Right! Now if we're listening...?" Calhoun challenged.

"Sorry...!" Sora mouthed back at Ralph, who simply blanked the boy. 

"Okay, so if you'd waited another thirty seconds, Sora," Calhoun barked at him. "You woulda learned what Coin Duty was. Y'see, us video game characters have to report to our games every so often, like a roll call if you will. If we're not there, our game could get shut down and removed entirely, and this would be considered a bad result. So my men and I make sure that the games are still standing when Coin Duty rolls around."

"Uh huh...?" Sora nodded. "That... kinda makes sense I guess?"

"So here's where you come in," Calhoun waved her hand towards him. "Seeing as you don't seem to be from around here, and DON'T think I've forgotten about that," she pressed, "that means you and your uh, friends here can help with our sweeps while we've got Coin Duty. It means we can also take a damn nap every now and again. Capiche?"

"Err..." Sora was hesitant. "W-what's Capi-"

"-do you understand?" Simpler English made Calhoun roll her eyes.

"...yes?" Sora winced.

"Good enough," Calhoun almost smiled. "Right, come this way, let's get you three geared up."

"Three?" Ralph spluttered. "H-hey! What about me?!"

"Coin Duty, Wreck-It!" Calhoun yelled from across the room. "You were listening, right?"

"Y-yes ma'am!" Ralph threw a hand in front of his face in emergency salute, though it quickly turned into a shield for his grumbling.

"Heard that," calm as day, she rebuked. "Now, you get your ass back to your game. If we need ya, we'll give you a call!"

"A... call?" Sora stared in confusion at all the weird tech that was being forced on him. Armour plating? Energy sensors? Energy bars...?

"Yeah. A call." Calhoun deadpanned. "Don't tell me you've never used one of these before?"

Pushed into Sora's hands was an old fashioned walkie talkie, like he and Riku used to play cops with.

"Cy-Bugs have learned to scramble our communications, so we've gotta go a bit more... old school," she explained. "And also, I hate to admit it, but all this gear actually suits you, kid. You look... you look good in it."

Sora frowned at Calhoun's reproach, and span around to face a mirror. And instantly he could see what she meant. With a full black armoured military-style armour, complete with all sorts of gadgets and doodads, he'd evolved from an awkward spiky haired teenager and become a man.

The shoulder pads and armoured sections really bulked him out where he needed it, and he even felt stronger by simply wearing it. Even better, his keyblade slotted perfectly into the holster on his back, though that was probably meant for a blaster or something. Donald and Goofy both looked a lot more impressive too, with Goofy's shield sporting a much thicker black design - though he looked like he was struggling with the weight of it - and Donald was wearing a weird scope thing with a bunch of lights on it.

"Oh yeah, one last thing," Calhoun grabbed his attention again. This time she passed the young man what looked like an ID card.

"That'll get you past security, cause there's no doubt you look a bit suspicious." She actually smiled. "So yeah, don't you let me down, got it punk?"

Sora flailed a hand to his head in a rushed salute, "...got it!"

"You better." Calhoun gave him another death stare. "Anyway, the boys and I have gotta report to Coin Duty in ten minutes. You've got until then to get your ass back to Game Central Station. Remember where that is?"

Sora waved a shaky hand in the air, "uhh... sorta?"

"Good enough..." Calhoun groaned. "Right, just remember not to let the bright light see you. If it does, you'll be seen as a threat, and the game will spawn defences. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Good," Calhoun clapped a hand on his shoulder, which hurt through the shoulder pad. With a smile, she said, "now get outta my sight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a short chapter, but I finally figured out what I'm doing for the middle part of this story, so it should help later updates.
> 
> Thanks to anyone who's reading this, and feel free to drop me a line if you've got something to say. :)


	5. Chapter 5

A short trip back to Game Central Station had Sora and the guys instantly confused. Because aside from Ralph, who was grumpily stomping off towards his game, the station was practically empty. Just a few stragglers here and there, with even the cliched tumbleweed blowing past in a mesh of pixels.

"S-so this Coin Duty thing must be happening right now?" He supposed.

"Looks like?" Goofy shrugged. "So we're s'posed ta check in these here other games, see if there's any bad guys?"

"I think-ink-ink-ink so." Sora juddered.

"Hey! You gotta learn to control that!" Donald scolded.

"Mind telling me exactly how, Donald?" Sora frowned back at him.

Donald folded his arms in  response, and grumbled something to himself.

"Alright so... which one?" Sora asked of his companions. The station was built like an enormous waiting room. Or station, Sora reminded himself with a palm to the forehead. There were rows upon rows of uncomfortable looking chairs through the centre of the room, with a plant and a water cooler every other ten chairs or so to make the place look at least a little friendly.

"Well, Calhoun said this one wus infected?" Goofy was the voice of reason. "Maybe we should check this one first, and just go clockwise?"

"...good thinkin' Goof." Sora nodded in approval. His body still juttered about a bit with his movements, but they were far less jerky now than they had been. Maybe that meant he was getting the hang of it?

But just as confidence began to creep in, his hand flailed of its own accord, and slapped him in the face. Maybe not. Donald cackled in laughter, and Sora was ready to backhand the duck when a shock of electric blue zapped past the three of them, barring their path.

"Now wait there just a second eh?" The blue figure raised a hand. He straightened his tie, and consulted a clipboard. "Just makin' sure everything's secure. Do you have clearance?"

Sora flashed the keycard that Calhoun had given him.

"O-oh wow," the security guard threw a quick salute. "S-sorry to question ya sir! Please go on through."

Quick as a flash, the little blue man dissolved into a stream of lightning, and bounced back down the station.

"Huh. That was easy." Sora frowned. Stowing his keycard away again, he beckoned the guys forwards, and the three approached the giant archway. The moment they had passed the threshold however, Game Central Station's clean and friendly aesthetic had been lost for more of an... 'aggressively homeless' ambience?

"Man, talk about a fixer upper," Sora scrunched up his nose at the stench. The only other time he'd come across a smell this bad was when he found Cid asleep under a park bench in Traverse Town. With his eyes watering, he dashed through to the little train thing. It chugged along at a desperately slow pace, as if it knew he couldn't stand the smell. But thankfully his nose was spared as the three continued through a dark tunnel into the first game they were to explore. Check for Heartless, or... Cy-bugs or whatever, and make sure there were no other bad guys loitering around. Calhoun was trusting him, and she didn't seem like a lady who trusted anyone easily. So he couldn't let her down.

"Alright guys, I dunno what we'll find when we go through this tunnel," Sora explained to the others, as the light at the end of it grew closer. "So we're just gonna have to trust our gut, and g-awaah?!"

With a sudden lurch, all three companions were hurled from the train, and onto a solid concrete floor.

"Oww...! Wish someone warned us about that..." Sora rubbed at his jaw. With a stumble, he helped Donald up, and took a good look around this new world he was in. 

Temples and statues. Lots of temples. All pointy and old fashioned, like in a ninja movie or something. Sora also found that the three of them were a lot more pixelated than before, rather than just vague blocks of colour. They weren't detailed, but he could flex his fingers again, and Donald's face actually had definition to it!

"Def-f-finitely an improvement, huh guys?" He spoke, and noted the different tone in his voice. More metallic, almost... robotty.

"You did that thing again!" Donald was a lot more monotone too.

"I know, Donald...!" Sora groaned. "I'm tryin' to control it, okay? Quit bugging me ab-"

"Who, are, you?" A voice. Sora span around to confront it, and locked eyes with an overtly muscular man garbed in what looked like an orange military uniform of some sort. The man had already taken a fighting stance, with one arm arcing above him like a claw from a prize grabber, and the other low and defensive. Probably not a guy with a good sense of humour.

"Coin Duty'll be here any moment, and now I gotta deal with some kid goin' Turbo in my game? Where you from anyway, virus?"

"Virus?!" Sora muttered to himself. What even was a virus? Like a cold?

The man's body language told Sora he should keep his distance.

"H-hi, I'm Sora. These're Donald and Goofy." The boy bowed low, because that was polite. "S-s-Sergeant Calhoun sent us out here in her place, to make sure the games were all... s-safe and sound, y'know? Have you seen any weird little-"

"Kid. Stop." The man in orange beeped one hand shut, and Sora followed suit. "Now listen carefully. You are in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Coin Duty is here in less than three hundred seconds, and we are not getting unplugged because of some uppity brat thinkin' he's taking over for Calhoun. So unless you turn around and walk away, we'll be forced to beat your ass in ninety nine. So you just take your little virus buddies with you, and go someplace else. You hear me?"

As usual, the threat flew straight past Sora. "...so I'll take that as a no?"

"Ugh..." the man pinched his nose. "Fine then, we'll have to do this the fun way."

He punched one hand into the other, and suddenly the backdrop of temples and things had levelled out into a giant square. Just when Sora thought it couldn't get any weirder, six names 'blorped' up on a nearby wall; Donald's and Goofy's he recognised, but there were three he didn't.

"Who're 'Bison', 'Zangief' and 'Blanka'?" He squinted at the blocky writing on the wall.

"And what's wrong with your name, Sora?" Goofy pointed out. Indeed the boy's name was looking a bit funny, as just the letter 'S' and a few pixelated blobs.

"You better get yourself ready, kid," spoke the man in orange once again. Sora span around to address him, only to find out that he'd been joined by two others. One was about seven feet tall, bearded, even more stupidly muscular, and wore only boots and spandex. The other crouched down more like a gorilla, but had weird greenish skin and an orange sort of afro thing. The green one howled, and flexed its claw-like fingers.

"I crush you like sparrow's egg between thighs." The bearded one sure had a heavy accent. He slapped his leg, and let out a deep laugh.

"...uh oh." The gravity of the situation had finally gotten through to Sora. A cheesy wrestling bell sounded three times in the background, and an enormous number ninety nine began counting down.

"A-Alright guys, pick a guy and fight!" Sora instructed, and his 'colleagues' leapt into action.

"Who-oa!" Sora leapt out of the way to avoid an electrified fist, and then again as an enormous boot slammed down where his head would've been. A timely handspring had him swerving around and striking the orange man in the side of the face with his keyblade.

There was a beeping up above them, and Sora allowed himself to get distracted by it, noticing that 'Bison's HP bar had decreased. That was one mystery solved.

"Thunder!" Donald squawked, and showered a flume of lightning bolts across the green guy. It just howled again, not seeming fazed by the electricity at all. With a snigger, the green thing tucked itself int a ball and launched itself at Donald, dealing heavy damage!

"Is good to see you again, Comrade Goofy," the big beardy one had wrapped his arms around Goofy's shield, crushing it out of shape. Even despite Calhoun's reinforcements, the thing just was not standing up to beardy's brute strength. "I thought you were unplug year ago!"

"H-how'd'ya know m'name?" Goofy's resistance was crumbling on the other side of his shield.

"How I know you-" the bearded one guffawed. "A-HAH! EVERYONE know Comrade Goofy in arcade. Meester Donald too!"

"W-what about me??" Sora had to evade an elbow drop from Bison.

"You... are stranger, small pointy man." The bearded one squinted his beetle black eyes. The warmth in his conversation had disappeared.

But on the bright side, it gave Goofy a chance to counterattack. His shield met the big man's chin, who recoiled just a little from it, as if hit by a water balloon.

"Zangief, we're here to crush these intruders, not make friends with them." Bison shoved Sora out of the way, and shook his head disapprovingly at the taller man.

"Why not both?!" Zangief grinned, knocking Goofy's shield to the ground and bear hugging him.

"Fine..." Bison grimaced. "Just make sure you w-ungh?!"

Bison's distraction cost him, as Sora hit him in the side of the face with his keyblade. A fresh scar was torn across the man's cheek, and blood spattered to the floor. He grit his teeth, "I'll let you have that one for free, virus."

And without even changing his stance, Bison simply launched his entire body forwards. It was coated in some weird sort of energy, and Sora couldn't react nearly fast enough to avoid it.

"Unf...!?" Sora was knocked several metres backwards, feeling as though something had just burst through his stomach. He clattered to the ground, and could taste the metallic sting of blood in his mouth. His vision blurred, and he could just about piece together that Bison's attack had shaved his HP bar clean in half. 

Donald wasn't faring much better either. With his Thunder magic useless against the green guy, who must've been Blanka, he had no choice but to try and aim Fire and Ice spells. Which Blanka avoided easily.

The ape like creature zipped between the projectiles like they were nothing, and Donald couldn't defend against its sharp claws for long. With a fierce uppercut the duck was launched, and he gave out a wailing, slow motion, over the top shriek of pain as he fell to the ground. Donald's entire HP bar was depleted, and the duck fell unconscious.

"D-Donald...!" Sora tried to wrench himself upright. The pain in his middle was immense, but Donald was in much worse shape. If only he could get to-

"-too slow, kid." Bison interrupted. A sharp elbow to the head had Sora seeing stars next to Donald, followed immediately by Goofy as Zangief released him from the bear hug.

"YOU, LOSE." Came an automated voice from seemingly nowhere. Some local spectators cheered for the three victors, who wasted no time with their celebrations.

"Not bad for warm up, small man," Zangief offered Sora a hand up. "But you pick wrong target. Comrade Bison is strong against-"

"Zangief, why are you helping them?" Bison glared at the wrestler.

"Because bad guy can also be good guy, Bison." Zangief gave his 'comrade' the brightest smile. "Fight is more fun with real competition, nyet?"

Bison glanced up at the wall above, as all the HP bars and timer were reset. "...I suppose."

Another countdown presented itself on the board, and the automated voice rang, "Round, Two! Fight!"

"Oh gods, again?!" Sora yelped.

"Yes, small man. This time I fight Meester Donald!" Zangief chuckled, and leapt at the duck without warning.

"Whah?!" Donald flailed out of Zangief's grip, and began flapping around the arena, as Bison and Blanka bore down on Sora and Goofy.

"Well..." the boy grimaced. He wasn't about to trust a complete stranger, but something about the simply spoken giant did seem pretty believable. With a silent of to Goofy, the two stared down respective opponents.

"You think I won't crush you just as easy?" Bison taunted, and launched an electrified fist into Goofy's shield. It rang like a heavy bell though, and Sora could've sworn that Bison was hiding pain beneath that angry expression he always seemed to carry. 

Meanwhile Blanka was fast, zipping about almost as fast as Sora's eyes could follow. His reflexes acted before he could, and blocked a strike from the creature, sparing his face from two inch claws.

"Hua?!" The beast howled in confusion, and sprang away like a jack in the box. Sora took his chance and jumped forwards, keyblade in hand. Meanwhile Donald was still evading Zangief.

"I make you into Pirozhki!" There was a manic glint in the giant's eye as he failed to ensnare the duck yet again.

Donald countered with a Fire spell, "You can't eat me! I don't taste good!"

"But you will when I cook you!" Zangief's enormous fists clutched at feathers, and was met with a freezing Blizzard spell as punishment. The goliath yelped in pain as his fingers were frozen solid.

There was another loud clang as Bison's elbow clashed with Goofy's shield, denting it but not breaking his defence. Goofy glared at the man in response, and tucked in tighter, bashing his advances away.

"Got any moves other than a dumb shield bash?" The military man growled.

"Aw, you bet!" Goofy was suddenly cheery again. With careful aim, he flung the thing, scything between Bison's outstretched arms and thumping him in the stomach.

"Ungh..." Bison slipped to one knee. Goofy wasted no time in collecting his shield and bashing Bison in the side of the head with it.

Then there was a sudden power surge as Blanka dug its claws into the ground and loosed a flare of electricity across its body. Sora was moments too late with his attack, and sunk his keyblade into the nova. The electricity surged through his system thanks to the two feet of metal he was wielding.

"Nyaj-j-j-j!" Sora juddered, before shooting off in the other direction. He tumbled across the ground, smoking and jerkier than ever.

Blanka howled in laughter as Sora staggered back to his feet. With a flail in his step, he again readied his keyblade and attacked, dodging around Blanka's legs and striking the thing across the back. Blanka recoiled from pain, and Sora followed up with another gouge to the side.

Meanwhile Zangief couldn't get close enough to Donald for any grappling moves. The duck simply kept firing off magic spells to wear him down. Goofy's shield was proving too tough for Bison to break through either. His spinning charge could knock Goofy back, but charging headfirst into a heavy shield only did more damage to Bison himself.

"Rraaaooow!" Blanka howled, and covered himself in another layer of electricity. Sora was once again in mid-jump, and had his keyblade prone, ready to strike.

But he cracked it into the ground with a dulled thud, and used his momentum to kick Blanka from the ground. With another roar, the best fell onto its back, and Sora's momentum carried forwards. He wrenched the keyblade back out of the floor and slashed it across Blanka's vulnerable chest.

"Ragh?!" The creature gasped out,  spitting up blood. Sora swung his Keyblade around one last time to finish the job, and-

"TIME, OUT." Came the automated voice, at literally the worst time possible. Sora and the guys watched with baited breath as the game calculated results...

"YOU, WIN."

The handful of spectators cheered for Sora, Donald and Goofy this time, and the young man literally collapsed from his attacking position.

"Whew...!" He gasped. "Th-that was a close one!"

"You got lucky, kid," Bison growled. "If it weren't for that last hit, you would've lost."

"Bah! Stop your complainings, Bison. That means we get round three!" Zangief ground his knuckles. But the smile was wiped from his face as an all consuming white light flared up on one side of the 'arena'.

"Hurry small man! Be hiding now!" Zangief gasped, literally shoving Donald behind a nearby pillar. Goofy had scrambled into a tree, and Sora was forced to hide behind Blanka, because he simply didn't have enough time to get anywhere safer.

The green creature huffed and growled, but remained painfully still as the sweeping white light sailed across. It got to Blanka and slowed down, probing its location with extra care. And then a second time, and even a third.

But eventually, it seemed satisfied with the findings, and swept all the way through, eventually dissipating just as quickly as it had appeared.

"That... was too close." Bison rest his head in his palm. "Satisfied kid? Nothin' to see here."

"Huh..." Sora muttered. "So that big light thing... that was Coin Duty?"

"Are you tellin' me that Calhoun seriously sent a noob to-"

Zangief elbowed him.

"Fine..." 

The military man lowered his cap, and instead offered Sora a salute. "Thank you for the fight. It was good to have some new opponents for once."

"Come back for round three soon, yes?" Zangief looked hopeful. Sora couldn't help but grin in response.

"You got it guys!" He gave them both a thumbs up. "C'mon Donald, Goofy, let's get onto the next one!"

Goofy fell out of his tree with a yelp, and the three friends departed from Street Fighter. One game down, four to go!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. An update for you.
> 
> It's a bit of a mess at the moment, but it's here at least.  
> My Street Fighter canon is rusty at best, but hopefully this made for a good chapter. It was fun to write at least.
> 
> Feel free to guess what game's coming next! :3


	6. Chapter 6

Another uncomfortable train ride had Sora and the guys back in the bright lights of Game Central Station. Again, the place was criminally quiet, with only a few stragglers that didn’t seem bothered about getting back to their games.

”Geez. I thought this place’d be so much busier,” Sora frowned at how quiet it was. Aside from an incomprehensible tannoy message every few minutes, the place was about as homely as a dentist’s waiting room. 

“Maybe that Coin Duty lasts longer than we thought?” Goofy shrugged. He and Donald exchanged a confused glance.

”Maybe...” Sora nodded. “ We probably shouldn’t go into a new game while that Coin Duty is still going on... right? What if we get caught, and it thinks we’re monsters or something, and then attacks us?”

”We’ll be fine!” Donald dismissed him with a shove towards the connecting station. The blue security guard zapped in front of the three of them as the aoproached, but then just bowed out of the way upon recognising them all, and let them through.

Sora thought he was ready for the train this time, however it still managed to take him by surprise and catapult him into the next game, where he landed face first into muddy, swampy grass.

”Eeew-w-w-w,” he glitched out, wiping pixelated slime from his face. “Where are w-w-we this time?”

”Don’t know,” said Goofy. The three of them looked around, but couldn’t identify anything other than badly rendered grass, and cloudless blue skies. The two merged together so well Sora couldn’t even tell where the land ended and the sky began, as if any step forwards would be met with immediate walls.

”This is so weird!” Donald’s voice was even more tinny than it was in Fix-it Felix’s game. It almost sounded like the duck had gone back to-

Sora jumped as a dull sounding bang ricocheted through the level. Out of the grass several green and brown ducks flapped about madly, escaping into the sky. However there was another bang, and one of the ducks crashed back down to the ground, lifeless.

A little fanfare sounded, and then a big brownish dog burst out of nowhere. It collected the duck in its jaws, and disappeared with it!

”Donald...” Sora whispered. “You might wanna get d-d-d-down!”

”Why?” Donald squawked at him. “I’m not like those ones! I’ll be f-“

There was another blast, and Donald didn’t even have chance to finish his sentence. With a cry of surprise, the little white duck fell to the ground, and the fanfare sounded again.

”Donald...!” Sora groaned. The urge to say ‘I told you so’ was strong. But even if he did, Donald was out cold. Was there even a point in saying it?

Suddenly, the dog reappeared again, and clipped across the grass to Donald’s location.

”N-no! No no!” Sora jumped to action. “D-down boy, down! Not for you!”

”Wumff!” The hunting dog gave a loud, sloppy bark in response, and just stared at Sora.

”Not for you!” Sora repeated. “Mine!”

The hunting dog just gently whimpered in response, and gave the big eyes. 

“No no, don’t look at me like that!” Sora shielded his gaze with his blocky hand. “You can’t have him, boy. I’m sorry!”

Then suddenly, with another ‘wumff!’, the dog bounded away, leaving Sora and Goofy stranded again. Did that actually work?

”C-c-c’mon Goof, help me with Donald.” Sora glitched about Donald’s feet. “This place is fine. Let’s get outta-“

Without warning, the bright white light began to sweep. Swallowing up the world pixel by blocky pixel, Sora and Goofy couldn’t hope to carry Donald quickly enough to evade it.

”It burns...!” Sora gasped, as the light practically melted his corneas. As soon as it began however, it was over. But not long after the light disappeared, a loud warning siren blared, and red flashes began pulsing instead.

”Wh-what does that mean?!” Sora beckoned to Goofy, who shrugged in response.

”Maybe it’s that defence system that Calhoun told us about?”

“That could be bad...” Sora gulped.

”What’s going on?!” Donald burst awake at last, and predictably started panicking when he noticed all the red lights, “whaaah?!”

“C’mon Donald, get up, we gotta move!” Sora grasped at Donald’s wing. The three charged in a direction, hoping some kind of exit or change in scenery would present itself before things got too messy. On their travels, all sorts of pixelated monsters began popping up in their way. Multi-coloured sort of... pointy little things that seemed to just float around and get in the way more than actually attack. Sora could get rid of them with single Keyblade strikes, but there were just so many of them, and they were popping up faster than he could defeat them!

”C’mon guys, f-f-find an exit!” Sora’s arm glitched through one of the weird alien things, as yet more invaded the level. “Either that, or hope this alarm thing runs out soon!”

”Easier said than done!” Donald squawked in protest, loosinga Thunder spell and vapourising about a dozen of the things.

”W-Well, just try your best, go-whoa, whoa!” Sora cried, as his Keyblade arm involuntarily threw him into a nearby wall. Weird. There was a wall there of all places?

It was the same colour as the background, so no wonder he couldn’t see it. Every time Sora tried to wrench his arm out of the wall, little greenish blocks would bloop out of it. They slowly built up, and eventually the wall disappeared completely, revealing the connecting train station?!

Released from its grip, Sora swiped a space invader away, and frowned at the sudden discovery.

”...Alright, I’ll take it. C’mon guys, let’s get outta here!”

Sora and his two compatriots bundled themselves into the train carriage, and the ringing of the alarm could still be heard screaming down the tunnel as the trio made their way back.

”...I really hope Calhoun didn’t see that,” Sora clutched at his heart and chuckled. What else could he do? Despite everything, it was all too ridiculous to not be funny. Donald almost got eaten, and the three of them were nearly lost in a world of endless blue and green. All things considered, getting out of that world in one piece was a bit of a-

“-welcome back, scum sacks.” A familiar voice pierced Sora’s thoughts like a knife through paper. The young man spun around to see a wide-eyed, thin-lipped Calhoun staring him down, and her entire army training their blasters on the three of them.

”...so you heard the alarm?” He grinned awkwardly. With a nudge from Donald, the trio slowly raised their hands.

”Heard it?” She seethed. “Who d’ya think they call when this all goes down, kid? I trusted you to take care of this and lighten the workload, not Frogger it all up and double it!”

”Captain!” One of her men gawped at her.

”Grow up, soldier,” Calhoun spat, and the cadet stomped back in line instantly. Calhoun’s death stare returned to Sora

“S-sorry,” He winced. “It’s just umm, we tried to find somewhere to hide, but that place was like a giant open field. No walls or anything.”

”No walls in Duck Shoot? You kiddin’ me?” Calhoun frowned. “They’re all over the pl - ohh, I guess a newbie like yourself wouldn’t be able to see them. Was the game clean at least?”

”Y-yeah, couldn’t see anything weird at all.” Sora nodded. With Calhoun’s approval, her men lowered their weapons, and Sora could literally feel the tension in his chest melt away. “So I’m... not in trouble?”

”I’ll let you off this time, got it?” Calhoun looked the other way. “You can make it up to me by taking on those two games. I hate ‘em both.”

”W-why’s that?” Sora dared.

”Put it this way, kid, you’ll need to be quick on your feet.” Calhoun gave Sora a look that he could’ve sworn was a half-smile. But he knew better. This lady had one setting; badass. And badasses didn’t smile.

”...Welp, looks like we’re doing those two next.” Said Sora, as he took note of the yellow tape that was getting wrapped around ‘Duck Shoot’.

”And phooey to that!” Donald cursed at the game as the trio made their way into the next connecting station.

”I know right? We probably should’ve read the title before just diving in, huh?” Sora chuckled.

”You mean like we didn’t just then?!” Donald shrieked at him.

”Hey, I got caught up in the moment!” Sora pleaded. “I’ll read the next one, promise!”

Sora was prepared for the train to tip him out this time. Before the thing could come to a stop, he leapt from the thing and onto flat ground without any drama.

...just as the thing clicked to a stop at the end of the line. With even less drama.

”...huh,” he deflated. “This world hates me.”

“Let’s just get going...” Donald huffed at him, and the trio exited the station. Beyond the doorway however was just empty blackness. The three of them were illuminated brightly, but that only made things even more difficult to see beyond an occasional lit symbol or arrow or something.

”M-maybe those are signs?” Sora pointed to an arrow facing to the right. “Think we should follow-“

”Ohai-yo~” a voice sprang out of nowhere, and two long arms wrapped tightly around Sora’s shoulders. “Donald-san! Goofy-dono! Okaerinasai!”

 “Huh?” Goofy stammered, as a sprightly blonde woman danced around Sora.

”Ver-sa Yuni, desu!” She placed a hand on her chest. She then pointed at Sora. “Kimi wa?”

Immediately, Sora’s eyes bulged. “Kimmy... wha?”

”Yuni desu!” The blonde woman reiterated. “Kimi wa?”

Sora just smiled awkwardly at her. Her smile flickered just a little.

”Donald,” she pointed at Donald. “Goofy!” she then pointed to Goofy. And then to Sora. Slowly the cogs began turning...

”S... Sora,” the boy gulped, with a hand on his chest. “N-nice to me-“

”Sora-Chan!” She latched onto him again, and babbled out a whole slew of things in that language he couldn’t understand. Suddenly she grabbed both of his arms and dragged the young man across the blackness of the level towards some weird platforms.

”H-hey, wait just a sec-“ Sora protested, tripping over his own feet in the meantime. “What are we doing here? What is all this?!”

Donald and Goofy looked just as clueless as he on their identical platforms. Whatever was about to happen, he wasn’t looking forward to it.

”Dansu Dansu, Revolution!” The blonde woman - Yuni, was that her name? - thrust an arm up into the air. Suddenly the entire place was illuminated, and the chirpiest, bubbliest, worst kind of music starting playing out of nowhere!

”Did she just say dance?!” Sora cried. That didn’t exactly go well in Ariel’s world. How was he going to survive this?

Instantly he clammed up. His feet suddenly felt like lead weights as arrows began lighting up across the platforms. They were facing in all sorts of directions, and if Sora had felt out of place in Street Fighter, this was nothing.

”Dansu, Sora-Chan!” That Yuni woman chirped at him, and quick as lightning she stomped on lights as they flashed up on their respective panels. Sora cursed his giant feet, and wobbled a shaky leg over one panel. With a stumble and a half-jump, he hit the top right and instantly heard a buzzer noise telling him off.

”What... the?” He grunted. This was madness. There was no way he was surviving this.

Goofy and Donald weren’t having much better luck. Was anyone in this team coordinated?

Stamp, stamp, stamp and turn! Sora tried his best to learn! Hop, hop, jump and crash! But these arrows moved too fast!

Sweat was pouring out of him. The heavy, thick uniform Calhoun had made him wear was only making things more difficult, and he could’ve sworn he was about to black out at any given second. The arrows were blurring, his head was swimming, but the music kept on playing!

And then it changed!

Smooth and seamless, it went from some teenage pop song one moment, and a slower, more guitar-y one the next. Yuni grabbed at the hems of her pants, and began moving in a more of a hip-shakey movement. So Sora supposed he had to do the same. With shaky steps and clumsy stomps, he attempted to follow in Yuni’s footsteps on the dance platform thing. 

Step, step, stomp and hip-shake, Sora tried to keep up, but it was much too fast, and his team-mates were just, as, help-less.

Step, stum, ble, and trip-up! Sora fell to the floor, he could take no more, Donald got, game, over!

”Sorry...!” The duck wailed, before a giant hammer came out of nowhere, and knocked him unconscious.

Sora ignored the pain in his shins, and staggered back upright. He was practically blinded by sweat, but something told him that the ominous red flashing from Donald’s ‘lane’ that game over was not a good thing. What if all three of them got it? 

Yuni continued to hit near perfect scores on her lane, as Sora and Goofy struggled along, barely even keeping up with it.

“Ganbatte, Sora-Chan, Goofy-Dono!” Yuni was somehow able to keep up conversation while dancing on this thing, meanwhile Sora could barely see for the sweat cascading from his brow. It had to be over soon. Please be over soon.

Another hip-shake and a twirl gave them a moment’s break, as the banjo music died down and faded away. Yuni beamed at them both as Donald remained unconscious.

”Sugoi, Sugoiii!” She clapped at the both of them, not even looking like she’d broken a sweat. But then she immediately snapped back to attention as more arrows began moving down the lanes. Sora groaned, and straightened up again, just in time for 

Two, stomps!

Two, stomps!

Faster, faster, music was playing, and Sora, Goofy, both had to hop!

Hop, and skip, and jump onto other foot, hopping and jumping and Goofy was falling down!

”Goofy!” Sora spluttered out, his vision blurring as he barely kept up with the madness on the screen.

”I’ll be alright Sora!” Goofy gasped out, starfishing on the floor. “Jus’ you make sure ya beat this, ya got-“

Again, the giant hammer wheedled its way out, and bonked Goofy on the head, where he immediately lost consciousness.

”D-dammit...!” Sora sputtered. His legs were screaming at him for rest now. With all this hopping and skipping, he was missing notes all over the place. Either side of him, Goofy and Donald’s lanes taunted with their ‘Game Over!’ screens.

”Subarashii, Sora-Chan!” Yuni sounded like she was praising him. For all Sora knew, she could’ve been taunting him after all. “Ganbarou!”

He trued his best to block out her high pitched, squeaky voice, and focus on the arrows, which were floating across the floor almost as fast as his eyes could process.

The hopping and hopping and skipping, awa-aayyy! The skipping and sweating and slipping, awa-aayy!

Every joint Sora possesses felt like lead weights now. It had to be over soon, didn’t it?!

Another stumble had the young man missing several notes in a row, and his screen began flashing red. The smile vanished from Yuni’s face as her score was still all but perfect. Sora staggered back to his position, th and red glow taunting him. He could barely even lift his legs now, but still, that game over screen threatened. His legs wobbled just in time to hit for

Two stomps!

And two more!

The last of his strength slipped away from him as the lad crashed to the ground, and a guitar solo played out the end of the song. Sora couldn’t see any more arrows floating down his lane. Had he really done it? Did he pass?

’Well done!’ Flashed up on the screen, and Sora felt his consciousness ripped from the ground as Yuni literally hauled him into the air. 

“Sora-Chan!” Her arms were like a vice as she bear hugged him. “Sudeki desu! Nice work!”

”Hunh?” The lad mumbled. “Y-you speak English?”

But then she danced around, gabbling things in her own language once again. Maybe not...

Two scores vaulted up high on the screen, with Yuni’s putting Sora’s to shame. But that wasn’t important. Because he made it. He didn’t get game over. Sora’s bleary mind didn’t even know if that made a difference, but it was satisfying all the same. He staggered about on his exhausted feet as Goofy and Donald slowly returned to consciousness.

”Whah?!” Donald gasped, bursting upright. “Are we dead?!”

”Huh?” Goofy echoed Donald. “Did ya do it, Sora?”

Sora’s knees collapsed beneath him. “Like, barely,” he grit his teeth.

”Sora-Chaaan~” Yuni was all sing-songy again. Sora wrenched himself back upright to address her, only to find her bowing?

”A-arigato!” Her voice was suddenly all choked and squeaky. “Sugu ni kaeru?”

”Eheh... sure?” Sora frowned. What the woman had just asked, he wasn’t certain, but either way she was ecstatic at his answer, leaping forward and wrapping him up in another bone crushing hug. She continued to dance around him like a moth around a flame all the way back to the train station, where he promptly collapsed into it. 

“Bai-bai, Sora-Chan, Donald-San, Goofy-Dono!” She waved, if it were possible, with even more vigour as the train rattled back.

”...what was that?” Sora broke the awkward silence as the lights of Game Central Station grew ever closer.

”I dunno,” Goofy scratched at his chin. “But I think she likes ya, Sora!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, a couple things:
> 
> Firstly, if my bad Japanese insults anyone, please let me know. I just thought it’d be cuter if she spoke Japanese instead of English.
> 
> Second, I know the chapter’s a bit of a mess. I’ll get around to fixing that. I’ve never actually played DDR, so I’ve no clue how accurate any of it is. I just knew it’d be about the most entertaining arcade game Sora could get lost in.
> 
> With all that out of the way, here’s hoping you enjoyed what I’ve got so far! Feel free to leave any feedback in the comments. :3


	7. Chapter 7

First things first; Time for a break. Sora’s leg muscles were cramping so badly that he could barely get out of the connecting train, and Calhoun had warned him that he’d need them in this upcoming one as well.

He collapsed into a bench and shed some of the heavy armour he’d been entombed in for the past few hours. Goofy obliged, and even Donald didn’t argue, falling down beside him and immediately retrieving water from the cooler to his right.

”This is the first good idea you’ve had all day, Sora!” He’d already emptied three of those tiny styrofoam cups. “...want one?”

”Sure...” Sora could barely raise an arm to grab at the thing, but it didn’t make any difference anyway. The moment his fingers wrapped around the cup, it exploded in a mass of murky green blocks, spilling water everywhere.

”...fine then,” he didn't have the energy to be surprised any more. “Why does that happen to only me?”

”Gee, I dunno Sora!” Goofy added an enthusiastic nothing to the conversation. “Maybe it’s got somethin’ ta do with how ev’ryone here knows Donald ‘n’ me, but not you?”

”That doesn’t make any sense,” Sora sighed. “You guys aren’t video game characters... are you?”

Again, another bright blue mass of energy rippled down the walls of Game Central Station, causing a few commuting game characters to jump back in shock.

”M-maybe in this world?” Donald shrugged. 

“True. I guess rules change from world to world huh?” Sora shrugged. Even with that little factoid though, the rules in this one seemed weird. Donald and Goofy seemed to be almost celebrities, yet he was unheard of, even treated as the bad guy. In a place he’d definitely never been before. Even Tron’s world was more inviting than this. 

“Welp, no point in just sitting around.” Sora groaned. His stiff legs screamed at him, but he pushed the pain to one side and staggered back to his feet. 

“This one is... Pac-Man, apparently.” He nodded at the plaque above the entry tunnel, before looking to Donald and Goofy. Both of them just returned blank looks at him, to which he sighed. So much for reading the name first. What good did that do?

Even the train was ominously quiet. The little engine rode the rails silently, with only a little click as it hit the bumper at the end of the line. The trio jumped out to find another endless expanse of near pitch black. There was the occasional faded outline of a wall, near invisible against the darkness, but that was the only clue that anything at all was even happening here. If Sora focused, he could just about pick up a muted, whirring sort of a noise, but that could’ve been anything.

”...hello?” He called into the darkness. Something had to be here, right? Calhoun wouldn’t just send him to some empty world, would she?

The farther they explored, the more his confusion grew. Only darkness and whirring, in every direction. 

“Ugh, this is fruitless!” Donald was the first to complain, wrenching his wings towards the ‘sky’.

”Fruitless?” Sora frowned. “W-what do you mean, Donald?”

The duck simply snorted at him in response.

”I think he means he needs fruit!” Goofy was the voice of enthusiasm. “Hold on a sec, I’ll getcha some! There was some back here somewheres!”

Donald facepalmed. “No, no, I didn’t mean-“

”YAAAAGH!”

Goofy’s cry resonated through the twilit labyrinth, clear as a bell. Suddenly the whirring intensified, and Goofy was practically galloping back towards them.

”Hay-lp!” He cried, clutching a bunch of pixelated cherries to his chest. “There’s monsters!”

”Monsters?!” Sora sprung into action, drawing his keyblade. “Heartless? Nobodies?!”

”I don’t know!” Goofy charged past them both. “But it ain’t friendly!”

Goody ricocheted around the nearest corner, just as an enormous mass of red surged around the previous one. Several feet tall, with the body of a jell-o and wide, staring eyes, it nevertheless floated towards Sora and a Donald at an alarming pace. Sora shoved Donald out of the way, and took off in a different direction from Goofy, tearing down this pitch black labyrinth with its near invisible walls. No matter how fast his feet could carry him, the weird red alien thing kept up with ease. Already feeling his legs start to cramp up, he looked around desperately. There had to be a clue somewhere! A safe room or something that stopped them from getting eaten by giant, neon monsters would’ve been really nice right about now!

Sora flailed, and fired a Blizzard spell behind him. The icy floor succeeded in slowing down his pursuer as he bounced off of a corner and staggered away down a different path, only to have to screech to a halt as Goofy rocketed down an adjacent path with a bright green one soaring after him, like a tennis ball wearing a bedsheet.

”There’s more of them!” He exclaimed to no one, just as Donald charged down a different path, with a bright pink one in hot pursuit. He fell into a wall and stumbled, but Sora didn’t have time to see what happened when the pink one caught him, because the red one had escaped from its ice patch and resumed the chase. Sora hurtled down hallways and careered around corners, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t shake this thing off. 

Suddenly his heart gave a lurch as Goofy‘s voice echoed through the labyrinth.

”Yaoo-!” His cry was cut short, and a bright green light swallowed up a section of the maze to the left. It ebbed away, leaving Sora alone with the red creature. He didn’t have time to worry about what had happened to his comrades, because the thing was still wobbling after him at a dangerous speed. It was only so long before his legs would give out on him and-

“Whah?!” He yelped, as something grabbed him around the neck. Before he could even react to whatever it was, he’d been pulled out of the maze entirely, and into the blinding lights of a... staff room?

”What... the?” Sora’s eyes were mere pinpricks, it was that bright in here. After a moment’s focusing, he could recognise the familiar scowl of Ralph. Of all people.

A moment’s more confusion, and he spotted Donald and Goofy, perched awkwardly in a corner of the room and covered in pink and green goop, respectively.

”Guys...?!” He noticed at last. “Guys! You’re okay! What hap-“

Before he could finish his question however, a bright red mass surged into the doorway. Immediately did Sora’s heart gave another lurch, but no one else in the room seemed to care about its appearance.

It blinked at him once, and then floated away again. As if things were confusing enough already.

”What’s... goin’ on?” Sora felt the need to whisper to Ralph, who just gave him a forlorn look in return.

”Just stay quiet.” He hissed.

Sora deflated, and edged around a circle of chairs to the other side of the room where Donald and Goofy were. Ralph was sunk into one chair, looking particularly morose, while there was a collection of other game characters that Sora didn’t recognise in various spiky uniforms.

And then Zangief waved brightly at the three of them. Still dressed in his bright red spandex leotard, he seemed more than elated that the trio were there.

”Comrade Donald! Is fortuitous you are here, yes?” He called out, only to receive a whack to the back of the head from M. Bison next to him.

”Shut it, idiot.” Bison chided. “Those good guys have no place here at BA, so don’t you welcome them.”

”BA?” Sora muttered. “Cid went to AA once? Maybe it’s the s-“

”-all rise.”

A deep voice derailed Sora’s train of thought, and this time a bright orange mass flooded into the room. There was a hasty scraping of chairs, followed by the clatter of one falling over, as the circle of surly characters stood up.

The orange monster thing cleared its throat. “Ahem! Good morning, Bad Anon. How are we today?”

There was a smatter of fettered muttering from the circle. 

“Good good,” the orange thing floated on top of an empty chair. “Please take a seat, everyone.”

More chairs scraped back into place, with Zangief picking his back up.

”Now, first things first, I’ve noticed a few new faces today, and I have to say that I’m a little surprised.” The orange creature continued. “Would you care to introduce your-“

”Err, Clyde?”

Ralph raised a hand. The orange creature blinked at him. 

“...yes, Ralph?”

”They uhh...” Ralph blushed furiously. “They don’t belong here.”

”Nonsense, Ralph.” ‘Clyde’ dismissed him. “At Bad Anon, we turn no one away. All Bad Guys are welcome here.”

”See uh, that’s the thing?” Ralph grimaced, showing a lot of teeth. “They aren’t Bad Guys. We just brought ‘em in here to stop them making a mess out there.”

Clyde’s facial expression didn’t change. “Well, I suppose that is a relief on some levels. I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear how Donald and Goofy had switched sides. So you’re just sitting in today?”

Donald and Goofy exchanged a look, before nodding back at Clyde. It narrowed its eyes and looked to Sora, however. “...you, I’m not sure on. What’s your story?”

”I umm...” Sora coughed. “I-I’m Sora, and S-Sereant Calhoun asked us to ch-ch-ch-ch-“

Once again, the lad’s limbs began seizing. He rest against a table in the corner to try and steady himself, only for the thing to glitch and collapse shortly after. A bowl of fruit and several cups of what looked like fruit drink spilled everywhere from his efforts.

”...sorry!” Frustration forced its way out, despite him. He didn’t have time to stagger back to his feet however, because something had already lifted him by the neck.

”I was looking... forward... to that orange drink!” Bison seethed at him. “Orange is my favourite... flavour!”

Both Goofy and Donald sprung  forwards, trying to wrench Sora away, but Bison’s trip held strong.

”H-hey, I said I was... s-sorry!” Sora clutched onto the man’s hand, his legs dangling uselessly in mid-air. “Accidents happen!”

”There are no accidents. Only mistakes.” Bison spat. “And you know what I think? I think you’re the worst kinda mistake, you little vir-“

“-that will be enough.” Clyde’s calm voice broke through the uproar. “I’m disappointed. You should know better than that.”

”If you fools can’t see that there’s something wrong about him...“ Bison growled, with Sora still dangling from his hand.

”We can’t help what is in our code, M. Bison.” Clyde’s voice was low and dangerous. 

“Yes, per-heps look inside heart, Comrade.” Zangief placed a creepy hand against Bison’s chest. “You are bad guy, yes. But not bad, guy. So put spiky small man down, nyet?”

”Besides, he already said he was sorry...!” Ralph chipped in, actually sounding invested for once.

”Bleeding hearts, all of you.” Bison grit his teeth. He threw Sora to the ground, and lowered the viser on his cap as low as it would go. Meanwhile Sora gulped down precious air again on the floor.

”...well, that’s all our time used up, I’m afraid.” Clyde rolled its eyes. “So let’s finish up with the declaration, okay? After me.”

The circle of bad guys all stood to attention in near unison, and began chanting;

”I am bad,

And that’s good.

I will never be good,

And that’s not bad.

There’s no one I’d rather be but me.”

Suddenly the awkward atmosphere dissolved away, and left a room full of jovial, if strained, conversation. With the occasional nod at Clyde, the dozen or so Bad Guys started filtering out of the room.

”Okay, we’ll meet again in two weeks.” Clyde advised, before audibly sighing and floating away with the bulk of the crowds. Leaving just Sora, Donald, Goofy, Ralph, and a straggler Zangief.

”Am sorry Comrade Bison had to chokings you.” He wrung Sora’s hand. “He is nice man once you get to know h-!”

Suddenly an arm wrapped around Zangief’s shoulder, and literally threw him across the room and out of the door.

”Get movin’, Zangief.” Bison adjusted his cap, before pointing at Sora. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten about you... kid.”

Bison stomped away, leaving just the four of them.

Sora glanced up to Ralph, who seemed even more sullen than normal. 

“Hey uhh... thanks, Ralph. For sticking up for me.”

”It’s fine,” Ralph dismissed. “Just maybe don’t get yourself in trouble so much, huh?”

”He can’t help it.” Donald snickered, and got a warning look from Sora.

”Easier said than done, buddy. Trouble just seems to follow me.”

”Yeah well... just be careful!” Ralph huffed.

”You got it.” Sora chuckled. He waded into one of his many pockets and extracted the walkie talkie. “...Sergeant Calhoun? You there?”

There was a few moments of silence before a voice crackled back. “...that you Sora? You’re supposed to say ‘over’ when you’re finished, over!”

”S-sorry! Not used to this! O-over!” Sora flailed back.

”Yeah, I gathered. Anyway, I take it that’s you done with your checks? Over.” 

“Uh huh. All five games checked, with nothing serious to report. Over.”

”Good man. Meet me at Game Central, a-sap. Got another job for you. Being Wreck-it if possible. Over.”

”Hear you loud and clear, over and out.” Sora pocketed the walkie talkie. With a nod to his companions, the four of them made their way back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey dudes. Ever since wreck-it Ralph was confirmed for KH3, it’s spurred me to at least try and finish this one before it comes out. A reasonable challenge huh?
> 
> Anyway, here’s an update. The continuity’s slipped a wee bit, but I’ll patch that up with a rewrite. Hopefully this’ll keep you guys happy.
> 
> Feel free to leave some feedback if you had thoughts! Thanks for reading!


End file.
